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Northern Fleet sleeve insignia

The Red Banner Northern Fleet (Russian: Северный флот, Severnyy Flot) is the part of the Russian Navy that has access to the Barents and Norwegian Seas, the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, and is responsible for the defense of northwestern Russia. The Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet was established in 1933. The fleet's headquarters are in Severomorsk where the main base and administrative center for bases located throughout the Kola Gulf are located. During Soviet Era it was the base of more than 200 submarines ranging from diesel-electric attack (SS) to nuclear-powered ballistic missile (SSBN) classes.

During the 1980s Soviet naval strategy shifted to an emphasis on bastion defense, fortifying the southern reaches of the Barents Sea for that purpose, and Russia has continued to employ that strategy.

The Oscar class submarine Kursk was destroyed in a torpedo accident during Fleet exercises in 2000. The submarine was previously based at Ara Bay. The Northern Fleet staged another series of major exercises in January 2004 involving thirteen ships and seven submarines in the Barents Sea. The involvement of Admiral Kuznetsov and Pyotr Velikiy was overshadowed however by two ballistic missile launch failures, made more embarrassing because President Vladimir Putin was afloat aboard the Typhoon class ballistic missile submarine Arkhangelsk to witness the tests. Neither Novomoskovsk nor Karelia were able to successfully launch what were apparently RSM-54SLBMs.[1]

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In addition to the main base at Severomorsk, the Northern Fleet has six more naval bases and several shipyards and spent fuel storage sites, according to the Bellona Foundation. The spent fuel storage sites include Murmansk, which is also a shipyard and base for Arktika nuclear-powered icebreakers, Andreyeva Bay, and Severodvinsk, also a shipyard.